No one expected her to get this far, let alone take the state title away from the defending state champion.
Prairie Village-Kansas City Christian High School sophomore Sara Goodwin defeated Norton Community High School sophomore Tawni Griffey for the girls’ singles state tennis title 7-6 (7-2) and 7-6 (7-5).
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“It’s exciting to win for the team and be able to take back a state championship for the girls tennis program,” Goodwin said.
This year she went 19-1 this season despite not playing at all last year.
“I couldn’t play last year because I was sick,” she said. “It was pretty exciting to come back into it and win. I’ve had a lot of injuries but I am so glad I can play now.”
This was not the first time these two met this year.
“I played her once last winter and beat her pretty badly but with these windy conditions it made it a completely different game.”
Griffey said she knew it would be tough for her to defend the state title.
“Last year was easier because no one knew who I was and there wasn’t much pressure,” she said. “I hadn’t been here before so that was the main difference from last year and Sara wasn’t here last year.”
Senior Colleen Zirkle from Wichita-The Independent High School defeated junior Dani Schwarz from Marysville High School for third place 1,3.
Last year’s doubles runner-up team was determined to go all the way this time around.
Conway Springs senior Abby Koester and junior Chelsea Ebenkamp defeated Ellinwood seniors Bailey Schartz and Darrien 7-5 and 6-3.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Koester said. “We’ve been working all year for this since we got runner up last year. We went out there and we played our hardest and it paid off.”
They have played together for three years and said they owe their chemistry to their family ties.
“We’re actually cousins so this was a big accomplishment and meant a lot to get this together,” Ebenkamp said. “Our family went crazy when we won. They freaked out. It was even unbelievable for us at the beginning.”
Claflin-Central Plains High School juniors Katie Hipp and Lanea Hekele squeezed out the victory against Wichita-The Independent High School senior Jillian Poynter and sophomore Cara Anderson for third 2, 5, 4.
After the final match concluded the team placings were announced. The competition was intense and the top three teams finished only a point apart. Wichita-The Independent High School earned third with 28 points. Second went to Conway Springs with 29. The 2011 3-2-1A state champion was Ellinwood High School with 30.5.
